Slavery in the U.S. started in the early 17th century and continued for a long period of time. Slaves, mostly from Africa, worked in mines and large plantations. Some slaves were house slaves, mostly women picking cotton in the hot boiling sun. Slaves were set apart from and treated differently than servants and free people in American society because slaves actually never had the chance to become free, they had to work almost all their life and they were sold onto ships. Slaves were also kidnapped and basically a property for life. While servants or Indentured servants worked off debt/punishments and were free after they served about 4 to 7 years. They retained their culture and were not broken into
